Stupid Taxi Drivers..

Taxi drivers in Malaysia get a lot of bad press for not using their meters, not taking people if the distance is too short or too long, charging more if it’s raining, charging more if there’s a traffic jam or just plain refusing to take people because they don’t feel like going where you want to go.

For me if a taxi is for hire, you should get in – state your destination and off you go.

Anyway have you noticed the worst drivers on the road are also taxi drivers? Cut queues, change lanes recklessly? No signal, no indication of intent? They drive too fast or too slow…of course there are some good taxi drivers, but on the whole?

I managed to avoid them mostly with their crazy antics, but this time I didn’t, I was coming out of 1-Utama carpark (new wing) onto the 3-lane section that goes back to the main road.

My lane was empty, let’s call it lane one – I double checked, no cars coming so of course I pulled out onto the lane..

Well I managed to pull out half way..when a taxi in the second lane decided to cut into the first lane without any signal, very suddenly..so of course I was half way out there’s nothing I can do, he just ploughed straight into the front corner of my car and didn’t stop, so he dragged the entire side of his car along my bumper..

He managed to completely crush the side light (thankfully not the headlight) and due to good design, the bumper absorbed the impact and the bracket popped (so no real dent) there’s one very deep scratch though.

Care is in the workshop now, it was time for service anyway…service is done but it’ll take another 2 days to repair and respray the bumper *sigh*.

Plus about 3-400 bucks to fix (I’ll fix the part that got busted at Plaza Damas too) + normal service.

How can you tell a taxi driver from the other Malay drivers? I saw lots of drivers not indicate, drive wrong way down the road [well, motorcycle the wrong way … and it happened more than once], saw them take up two lanes, almost hit each other like bumper cars on steroids!

Ugh. That sucks. Theres no doubt that nowadays taxi drivers are just sickening. Overcharging, driving recklessly, touting, its all been reported in newspapers. Though of course there a few good ones out there still. Funny thing is that nothing is happening to these irresponsible guys.

A taxi driver once told me that those ‘taxi’ drivers touting around KLCC’s taxi stands aren’t exactly taxi drivers. They’re people hired by the companies to retrieve back the taxi due to the current taxi driver’s late daily/monthly payment for the rent of the taxi. The normal taxi drivers are even afraid to go near those stands now because they threaten them and such.

David: Nah always make it a point to drive to Genting…the taxis are too scary.

Dr. Tan: Yah would be nice to have a huge pickup and just mash them out of the way.

willchua: Indeed, only my wallet.

Asyraf Lee: Eyah, what to do la.

julian: Yah bunch of dodgy characters.

Simon Seow: Hahaha, sounds bad.

Dabido: As mentioned below Malay is a race, Malaysian is a nationality 🙂 But yeah, driving standards in general are pretty bad here.

tzyy: Cool, hope you stick around 🙂

moons: Yah a lot of repossessions in the taxi world, and a lot of dodgy characters. It’s a pretty sad state of affairs.

Ranga: Relax, normal mistake for westerners – especially older generation as the country was known to them as Malaya and the population as Malays (regardless of race). Indeed every is powered by Photoshop, even this picture of my broken light hahaha.

Almost the same thing happened to me when I was on NPE once. That guy just came out from under a flyover bridge without stopping and I gave him a hoot. Turns out, at the end of the highway before the toll gate, he came out of no where and break right in front of me. I managed to stop right on time, but almost hit the barrier at the toll booth.

And they always claim themselves as the victim every time you go onto a cab. Oh, and if you don’t show your directions, they always take you on the longer route.

Ranga – Sorry, didn’t mean to offend you, but like ST says it’s a common Westerner mistake. I was referring to the people of Malaysia, not just one race. And before you go around accusing people of racism you probably should know that there is no such thing as RACE, they disproved such an existence over 60 years ago, even if the term still is around to mean to discriminate against someone of a slightly different decent. [DNA proves everyone has common ancestors from around 100,000 years ago anyway … so guess what, we’re related!!!] And I’m of Western, Asian and Black decent, so EVEN if you did believe in race still, then they all come together and are encapsulated in my family in one way or form.
So before you go around trying to pull someones testicles off for being ‘uneducated’ you might want to educate yourself a bit first, because we all make mistakes and occasionally do the ‘foot in mouth’ thing and it is better to correct with a gentle spirit. (And if I make the same mistake in future, you’ll know why and you’ll know what I mean. Just give me a gentle reminder. Old habits die hard). CHeers. 🙂

Tell me about it … this is not a worst case… I got one in Penang. That lady kissed my butt (I meant my bumper at the back of my car) then she went out to the street and shouted to gather the crowd… As a tourist in Penang, how do you feel? Anyway, i shouted to the crowd… are they going to beat the tourist up or what? All of the sudden, the crowd disappeared… this is how the reaction… surprise me! It’s so obvious that is the lady fault but she was calling the crowd as if i will beat her up … so sad… 🙁

Anyway, as long as you are okay… and no one hurt in the accident. You should be glad. No doubt most taxi drivers are crazy drivers in Malaysia but they also have some good one :->

I pledged NOT to get into a cab, especially in Subang area. NEVER! unless it’s a matter of life and death. They deserve the bad media.

The last time I got into a cab, the driver over charged me. Hence I started questioning his act. You know what he did? He started explaining from A to Z how no one is honest these days anymore. Even the person selling cars to cab drivers are dishonest. And the person fixing the cab meters, yada .. yada.. that’s why they overcharge too. *rolls eyes*